Desert Property

Once upon a time, when we lived in Las Vegas and Mike worked for Exchange Enterprises, we acquired some desert property.  What we have left is 15 acres (we started with 25, but lost 10 acres due to non-payment of taxes).  The fact that the taxes back then were less than $20 per parcel per year tells volumes of our level of poverty at that particular time.  But we still own these two small tracts of desert land nearby Yucca, Arizona. 

We've never, ever seen this land before yesterday.  We have owned it for over 30 years. We've paid taxes on it for over 30 years.  In the beginning, the taxes were, like I said, about $20 to $25 per year for all 15 acres.  In recent years it has grown to be over $100 per year for the 15 acres, so I decided it was time to get rid of it. It is doing us no good whatsoever.  Well, except costing money and we tend to have plenty of write-offs, thank-you-very-much.

The desert is, shall we say, and acquired taste.  I've been something of desert person for quite a while now. I don't like the dry skin it brings, but there are many parts of the desert that I do love.  I love the variety of plants.  It might not seem like there is much of a variety, but there is.  I'm guessing on many of these names, but I'll give it a shot.

Above, the tall spindley thing seen between the barbed - wire fence is maybe a type of ocotillo.  In Las Vegas, on some parts of the freeway where they have sculptures, and on Tropicana Avenue by McCarran International Airport, I believe they have created some replicas of these plants in bloom.  Now, they are not in bloom in the desert, but they were growing in a lot of areas.  No leaves, just spines. Their blooms are red and only at the tips of the their tall stems. I think they look like bird beaks on the sculptures.

Saguaro have big, waving arms. Or they could be making other expressions besides "waving" at you, but that is the most common. Some of the waves are quite enthusiastic, if many arms are involved!

There is a wire fence to the left, a "road" to the right, and a mountain straight ahead.  We think this is where one 10-acre plot is, down the "road" and to the right.  But we can't tell for sure. On our map, there are street names. In real life, there are few streets, much less any "names" or street signs.  There are some, but they are few and far between.  

Four -Wheeling through the desert. In our new car. :-\

I zoomed in on this view. I love it.  It is what we sing about on patriotic holidays-- Is this not "purple mountain majesty" or what? It is a gorgeous view from our 5 acre plot.  We picked up a lady who was hitch hiking back to her home on a parcel close to ours.  After we dropped Susan off, we walked around on our parcel down the street and around the corner.  This was one of the vistas.  They are magnificent. But, an acquired taste, like I said.

I believe this is a type of cholla cactus.  It is bearing some yellow fruit.  We thought they were blooms, but there are no petals, just this immature fruit. No, I did not touch or taste it. Just took photos.  But these particular plants in this area were very prolific and seem healthy, lending a slight green tint to the entire side of the mountain where they lived.

This is a view of one ATV trail we drove down.  Our car is SOOOOooo dusty after all this. I drove around Las Vegas the next morning trying to find a driver-operated car wash (the kind where you get out and squirt it with a hose) and could find only highly - automated ones that kind of scared me, so I backed away.  I tried our semi-automated car wash in Cedar once and our car is so small, it missed a lot of stuff and I was sorely disappointed and felt it was a waste of money since I'd had to re-do a lot of it. I'd rather just do it myself, but it's too dang cold at home.

That is the sign indicating that this is an All-Terrain-Vehicle trail. We hope we might be able to match that up with some  other maps and clue in to where the parcel of 10 acre really is.  It's just off of Boriana Mine Road.  Just before "Foothill Road" cross street, but we could never find that street marked anywhere.  We found a private ranch and drove on their private property for a bit, though. They had some cool antique farming/ranching equipment decorating their property. But, since we were technically trespassing at that point, I did not stop to take photos. 

This is a close up of the base of a ocotillo cactus. They are very spiny!

And there were plenty of other spiny things around.  While we walked around, we never saw much indication of any wildlife, though. Just ants and lots of mice/rodent holes. We never even saw or heard a rattlesnake!

More spiny things.  Prickly pear, I believe. Lots of rocks, too.

Below is the shot of the hillside. In real life, it does have a green-ish hue to it, due to all the cholla cacti growing. I imagine it would be quite pretty if they all bloomed at the same time.

Here is an area with stands of Saguaro cactus.  They seem to be trying to stand as straight and tall as the power poles are standing!  There is power in the area of one of our lots, but no power to the other one. Power is good.  NEITHER of them have water!  Can you imagine having to haul water (or have it delivered) for all your needs?  I suppose there is the option of drilling a well. Perhaps it is too expensive. Susan used solar panels in her place. She has a trailer and a motor home, a shed a cute little rocke-lined walk-ways and paths around the shrubs on her property. She cooks with propane and loves the isolation and quiet-ness of the area.  People are out there, but they are spread out far and wide usually.

But look at that gorgeous blue sky!  The rugged peaks. It is stunning.

More rugged peaks and rocks. And cactus spread over the hop (not than anyone can actually "spread" a cactus---ouch! ) Again, it is just stunning if  you take the time to drink it in, enjoy the pure clean air.  Yucca, Arizona is about 25 miles south of Kingman, Arizona, and that's a couple of hours south of Las Vegas. Not too isolated, really.

I spy a house on a hill.  They really have a good vantage point, but we surmised it was deserted. The doors appeared to be all open, and the windows, too. 

Boriana Mine road is wide and sandy, alternating with rough and rocky.

Even the rocks are kind of pretty. Sparkly quartz-type stuff.

The next few are just a "panoramic" view of the area while standing on the 5 acre plot.

Joshua trees, sage brush.

Close by, in Yucca, is the Chrystler automotive proving grounds.  There is a big BIG track and some other things. I do wonder if one would be able to hear cars racing around occasionally as they are tested and "proved."  This 5 acre parcel is within a couple of miles of the grounds.

More mountain views.

And mountain views with Joshua trees.

We spent a lot of Monday driving around the area, walking across dry, arid land, enjoying the solitude and beauty of the desert.  We explored dirt trails, enjoyed a picnic lunch and each other's company.  I'm glad we finally got to see this place. I hope we can sell it to someone who will enjoy it.  Pipe dream?  Maybe. But we're going to try.  Some of the homes out there were fairly nice-looking.  I mean, if you could afford to dig a water well and like to live "of-grid," or really close to it, this could be ideal.

For the rest of the day, we just drove back to Vegas, got checked in to our hotel room and then went to "The Linq" and ate at Yard House restaurant. It was good. Mike had "Vampire" tacos.  I had Maui chicken.  I have no idea why they are called "Vampire" tacos. It was a sports bar and so noisy.   I loved the chicken. It came with skewers of grilled pineapple.  My only bad thing was I choked on some pineapple juice on one bite and it went down the wrong pipe. Ouch.  I coughed a lot during dinner. ugh. Oh, we also had a California Roll for an appetizer which was interesting. It was really a stack of the ingredients instead of a roll all sliced up.  The nori was little shredded stuff in the inside and it was all piled on top of a rice patty.  Different, but very tasty. We were pretty hungry since our picnic was kind of puny and we are an hour later than Vegas time. 

Then we came back to our room and played games and watched TV. We are so exciting. Remember--what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! :-)